


Surround Me with Your Breathing

by dimplelegacy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying, Heart-to-Heart, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Keith: wow I'm in love, M/M, Oh the horror, Post Season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 18:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14939213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimplelegacy/pseuds/dimplelegacy
Summary: " He doesn’t know how he is even alive anymore, not to mention Shiro. But they are.That is the real aftermath, he thinks. Them breathing together in this same space, still alive. "Or:Shiro and Keith, after.





	Surround Me with Your Breathing

**Author's Note:**

> I have tons of other stuff to do. I know. But one sometimes has to release the pain, relief and happiness Voltron's new season gives them. What an incredible season.  
> So I hope this small (unbetad) piece makes some sense. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, crying and dying fans. Feel free to leave a crying, dying comment.

Aftermath is a strange word, at least to describe the situation they are in. It’s too easy but also too complicated, like a combination of hot and cold feeling in your throat. For Keith, it’s also the sound of his heart-beat, erratic despite the calmness that has set upon him and his friends.

 

 

 

 

They are all exhausted and it seems suitable to stay in their present location. Thanks to Hunk, they have enough food to get by until tomorrow. Lotor is gone — the thread of an enemy looms over them but the urgency is gone for now. They can breathe for a while.

 

Shiro is safe.

 

 _Keith_ can breathe for a while.

 

Aftermath can mean reconstruction. It can also mean mending wounds and letting the shock settle in. When Keith looks at Shiro sleeping, head on his thigh, in a way he’s doing all of those things.

 

They tried to take him inside Black so he could rest in peace but with a slurred voice he had protested; “It’s okay. I want to feel the air around me.”

 

Keith understands. Shiro hasn’t felt that in a long while.

 

He knows two years have passed only for him but he can’t help the small, stirring panic when he thinks about the possibility that it was longer for Shiro. Time moves differently in an astral plane too.

 

They are all gathered around a campfire, exhaustion clear in everyone’s faces but there’s also relief. Except for Allura, who seems to be the most tired of them. She’s relaxed but there’s sadness around her too, Keith can sense it.

 

It’s been so long since he has seen his friends and he’s more than ready to talk with each of them. But right now he’s too focused on the person sleeping in his lap. Shiro is undeniably the one he missed the most and everything he had to do to get him here, everything Shiro — or someone like Shiro — did _to him_ , shake his bones like a freezing wind. He won’t forget it. He _can’t_  forget it. It’s a curse because everytime he closes his eyes, he sees Shiro’s dark gaze, him surging at him, ready to kill.

 

But it’s also a blessing. It brought them here.

 

Like Shiro said, Keith found him. And it makes him proud. Makes it all worth it.

 

Coran is starting to doze against the rock behind him while Pidge has long ago cuddled against Hunk’s shoulder. Lance is speaking with Allura, quietly. Romelle seems content in staring at the fire, deep in her own thoughts.

 

Keith knows very well what his mom is doing because her eyes have been on Keith for a long while now.

 

“What?” he asks finally.

 

“You have a scar.”

 

Keith swipes his fingers against his cheek. The wound has healed quickly but the skin tissue is slightly elevated. Yeah, it’s a scar.

 

He nods slightly.

 

“How did you...” But Krolia’s voice drifts off when Keith shakes his head, only staring at Shiro. His fingers grace the now white hair and he hears Krolia shift beside him. “Ah,” she simply says.

 

Somehow, over the time they spent together, she has become very good at reading him. Or maybe it’s simply because they are very much alike — Keith can admit that now.

 

Instead of scolding him or blaming Shiro like other mothers probably would do in her place, she only says, “You love him.”

 

It’s different to say it out loud yourself than hear someone say it to you. Keith’s hand freezes on Shiro’s hair before he inhales.

 

Then exhales.

 

His fingers continue stroking the silky white hair.

 

“Yeah,” he hears his own rough voice say.

 

Krolia doesn’t say more. There’s nothing to say, especially for Keith — loving Shiro is something he can’t explain that well. In what manner or how long? He can't say for sure. He only knows that he loves him, dearly.

 

Krolia slides her hand against Keith’s back gently, comforting him in her own way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He isn’t sure when he fell asleep.

 

Keith blinks wearily at the sky above him, thousand and another thousand stars twinkling at him like fireflies. They seem much closer than on Earth and Keith can’t remember when was the last time he has slept under a starry sky.

 

There’s an aching bump on his hip and his limps feel too heavy, but despite that, his mind feels clearer.

 

Until he realizes that the weight on his thigh is gone.

 

His hand shoots out and he sits up so quickly that his back lets out a pained “crack”, but it doesn’t matter when desperation and pure terror are taking over all of his senses. But as soon as he looks around, a blanket of relief is thrown over him — no one and nothing has stolen Shiro away from him.

 

Well, except one thing and that is the Black Lion. He sees Shiro leaning against Black’s enormous paw with his eyes closed.

 

Keith stands up slowly, an irrational urge taking over his body. He walks to Shiro and then he kneels down so he can look at the black paladin’s sleeping face closely. He doesn’t know why Shiro moved to rest by Black but Keith can guess it’s because of their deep connection. Black kept him alive for all this time after all. The thought makes Keith’s chest ache and his eyes burn. Shiro’s presence beside him was comforting, he had something to focus on. But now Keith’s seeing him there, vulnerable, _alive_ , and the emotions flowing through him feel almost uncontrollable.

 

God, he could have died. He did die. And Keith had no idea.

 

He must have sighed a bit too harshly because Shiro’s eyes flutter and his shoulder twitches. A bright gaze meets Keith’s own.

 

“Keith? Are you okay?”

 

Is _he_ okay?

 

“I’m fine. Just woke up and thought you had disappeared. Again.”

 

“You do know I’m not doing it willingly, right?” Keith hears a chuckle in Shiro's voice and affection blooms inside him.

 

“I know.”

 

Shiro frowns, possibly because Keith’s voice sounds unusually shaky. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m sorry I woke you. I figured you probably needed some space.”

 

“What?” Keith blinks at him like an owl. “Why?”

 

“You’ve been through a lot. With me. I mean… the other me.” Keith sees Shiro’s gaze shift to his cheek and he has to fight against the instinct to cover the scar with his palm. “Did he do that to you?”

 

Keith doesn’t know why he says his next words; “It was an accident.”

 

A smile forms on Shiro’s face but it’s far from content, far from anything even resembling happiness. “Don’t lie to me, Keith. Please.”

 

Keith doesn’t know what to do with his hands — they’re shaking.

 

What happened between him and the other Shiro is the last thing he wants to talk about.

 

“He tried to kill you,” Shiro says.

 

Why would there be any point in denying it? After all, he told Shiro so in the astral place.

 

“I’m sorry, Keith.” So many emotions play on Shiro’s face, almost like he can’t decide what it is that he's feeling the most. Sadness. Regret. Shame. Fear. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe something that was even… remotely me, would try to hurt you.”

 

“I don’t need you to apologize. It wasn’t even you.”

 

“In a way it was. And I,” Shiro cuts himself off to inhale. His shoulders shake. “You probably need time. And it’s perfectly normal if you don’t want me to be around you and-”

 

“ _Shut up_.”

 

He doesn’t scream it. He doesn’t even raise his voice. It’s barely a whisper. But it has the desired effect on Shiro because he shuts his mouth so quickly that Keith can hear his jaw click. He looks like Keith has slapped him instead of just speaking.

 

Maybe he can see how much Keith himself is shaking. Maybe he can see the sorrow, regret, and fear on Keith’s face too. Maybe he can see the lone tear that gets free as he blinks, how it rolls down his cheek and escapes to the ground from his chin.

 

“Please,” he whispers. He can’t speak at a normal volume because his throat hurts. Everything hurts. He’s so tired. “Don’t do this. I didn’t find you so that you could apologize to me. I didn’t worry for you, fight against you, I wasn’t ready to die with you just to hear you say that you’re sorry and speak about yourself like you’re someone I’d want to avoid. Someone who didn’t just cause me a heart-attack only because you weren’t sleeping beside me. I don’t need that. I just need you. _I’m_ the one who should apologize because it doesn’t matter what I do, I will always fail you in some way.” He knows he’s crying because Shiro’s shocked face has gotten blurry and there’s something like a hiccup escaping his mouth.

 

"No," Shiro breathes out.

 

_He’s pathetic._

 

“No, Keith, you’re not,” he hears the black paladin tell him with a firm voice. Did Keith say that out loud too?

 

“Come here,” Shiro pleads. “Keith.” He sounds like he’s close to tears too.

 

Unceremoniously, Keith slumps in front of Shiro.

 

For Shiro, it’s enough. Immediately Keith is pulled into a hard, breath-taking embrace, his body nestled securely between Shiro’s legs. He swallows down a sob as he feels Shiro’s fingers in his hair, threading through it before gently squeezing the strands into his grasp. There’s a pause — him realizing that he doesn’t have his right arm anymore — then he presses his face into Keith’s shoulder.

 

“I’m here, Keith. I’m here. Let it out. I’m here.”

 

His words are like balm against an open wound, painful and soothing at the same time. It’s the way he moves his hand down and then wraps his arm around Keith’s waist that leaves Keith gasping for breath and crying more. He doesn’t sob, at least he likes to think that he doesn’t, but there’s a deep sadness that leaves his body when he cries in Shiro’s embrace. Somehow, the roughness of the past months, past _years —_  leading Voltron, being part of the Blade, finding his mom, then returning back to Voltron — catch up to him.

 

He doesn’t know how he is even alive anymore, not to mention Shiro. But they are.

 

That is the real aftermath, he thinks. Them breathing together in this same space, still alive.

 

Keith knows Shiro is crying too. He can feel wetness on his shoulder and neck. But it’s far from unpleasant — instead, it’s like a warm rain. Shiro isn’t crying loudly but he’s shaking as much as Keith.

 

They hold each other for a long time and when Keith pulls away, both of their cheeks are almost dry.

 

“I missed you,” Shiro says. His smile is the most beautiful thing Keith as ever seen and he swears there must be a star out there somewhere, only made for Shiro and his happiness.

 

If Keith was to ever find it, he would protect that star too, no matter what it would take.

 

Shiro’s thumb swipes against the scar on Keith’s cheek. “You have to promise me that you’ll never let me hurt you again.”

 

“It wasn’t you.” Keith doesn’t try to keep the irritation out from his voice.

 

“Still,” Shiro says, glaring at Keith in a way that takes him back to their days at Garrison.

 

It takes a moment for Keith to answer. He tries to get used to that kind of promise but; “I can’t, Shiro.”

 

Shiro's glare disappears, a naked confusion taking its place.

 

Keith’s fingers tremble slightly when he takes Shiro’s hand in his own, pulling it away from his cheek. “Like I told the other you… I love you. Even if you hurt me, it doesn’t change that. It doesn’t change the fact that I will never give up on you.”

 

Shiro’s eyes blink at him. His hand twitches in Keith’s grasp but instead of pulling away like Keith suspects, he intertwines their fingers together. It feels extremely intimate, even for them.

 

“Throwing my own words at me. You brat,” Shiro says with a soft and tender voice. His eyes are incredibly warm, almost making Keith feel like he’s burning under their gaze. Keith looks away but he’s soon forced to meet Shiro’s gaze again when Shiro bumps his forehead against his own. Keith swallows — the swirl of emotions inside him feels like it’s trying to break free from his chest.

 

“Keith.” Shiro’s voice sounds like velvet and Keith tries not to shiver. “Thank you. Thank you for always being here. Thank you for always saving me. _Thank you._ ”

 

“You don’t have to-”

 

“No, I do. Because the day you stumbled in my life, changed everything. It changed me. I wouldn’t be here without you.” Shiro lets out a brief laugh. “And believe me, even after everything, there’s no place I’d rather be now.”

 

Shiro’s hand pets Keith’s head and then presses it against his chest. It’s warm and it circles Keith into the kind of safety he can only feel when he’s with Shiro.

 

It feels almost too overwhelming. He hugs Shiro tightly, pondering if he can ever let go again.

 

He feels lips press against his hair.

 

“I love you too, Keith. I love you so much.”

 

Keith bites his lip and squeezes Shiro harder.

 

 _Ah,_ he thinks, finally understanding. _So it’s this kind of love._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
